Is there life on Mars? This age-old question has prompted many missions to Mars, with the most recent rover, Curiosity, having safely landed in August 2012 amid a blaze of publicity.

This manual covers the development, design and engineering of three generations of Mars rover: Sojourner, which landed in 1997, was the size of a microwave; Spirit and Opportunity, both the size of a shopping trolley, followed in 2004; and Curiosity is the size of a car, with a design life of two years.

Learn how these machines work as well as what they have found and hope to discover - and look forward to the possibility that humans may yet set foot on the Red Planet.

Curiosity, the most recent Mars rover, landed successfully on 6 August 2012 and is already providing fascinating findings. Besides Curiosity, two previous generations of Mars rover are covered. Details the concept, development, design, hardware and engineering of these machines. Launch, landing and the first few months of operation of Curiosity.

The first flights to Mars Mariner 4's fly-by mission provided 21 pictures. How our understanding of Mars and advances in technology have changed over the decades. What we hope to discover in the future. A projection of how humans could one day step foot on the Red Planet.

Hardcover: 176 pages

Publisher: J H Haynes & Co Ltd (2 May 2013)

ISBN-10: 0857333704

ISBN-13: 978-0857333704

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My Amazon review:

This is a fantastic book covering the unmanned exploration of the red planet, including the early Mariners, Viking and the rovers. It contains many photos showing construction and packaging of the spacecraft. I was also surprised to see very recent photos from Curiosity. This is a must have for anyone interested in Mars exploration!